Bowel of Chili

This weekend I headed on over to the Georgia Chili Festival, to get my lunch on, as it were. I had an ok time, not particularly good or bad, just lots of chili, lots of people in costumes (redneck, cavemen, and 80’s), and a horrible U2 cover band. My favorite part about the whole festival wasn’t the chili, but rather a tasty concoction called Brunswick stew. It may be a commonly known dish, but this was the first I had heard of it. Well I wasn’t there for more than an hour and I already had a bowel full of chili. So I headed on home.

While at home I got a call from my mom. However, during the call Sprint was kind enough to turn off my cell phone service. Now considering whom I was talking too, I should have called to thank them, but I wanted to call Melinda and very well couldn’t do that without some sort of “service”.

As an aside: I’ll go on record as saying I’m typically a customer service rep’s favorite type of client. Ever the push over, I’m the last one to complain and if I do, nothing fruitful ever comes of it. I blame Comcast and Best Buy for stripping me of any instinct for standing up for myself. Well today was different, this is generally how the conversation went:

Sprint: Well it seems that you have a balance of $152.48 and haven't paid your bill in 4 months.

ThisGuy: Well let me check my checkbook. Yup it looks like I haven't received a bill from you since June. I moved from NH to GA in May, but I already called to update my address. Do you have my GA address on file?

Sprint: Yes we have you address as, blah, blah, blah

ThisGuy: No, that's wrong...it's blah, blah, blah

Sprint: If you haven't received a bill from us in 4 months why haven't you contacted us.

ThisGuy: To tell you the truth, I didn't notice. I get bills all month long, every month. Do you know exactly when each and every bill is supposed to arrive at your door?

Sprint: <Laughing> Well no sir, I don't.

ThisGuy: Let me ask you a question? What happens to the bill you sent me that went to the wrong address?

Sprint: The postal service would have returned them to us.

ThisGuy: So back in July you knew that I didn't receive my bill but you didn't contact me? I mean, you're my cell phone service provider; you know my phone number, why didn't you call?

Sprint: ...

ThisGuy: Listen, I'm not trying to "bust you balls" I'm just sayin' we both could have done things differently. Is it ok to pay the balance over the phone?

Sprint: Yes sir I'll just need your banks routing number, etc.

ThisGuy: Sure no problem. Just curious but that balance you quoted me, did that include any late fees?

Sprint: Yes sir, not much only $5.44.

ThisGuy: Well if you take that off I'll be happy to pay.

Sprint: Sir, I'm not authorized to do that.

ThisGuy: Well who is then.

Sprint: No one is, not even my supervisor is capable of doing that.

ThisGuy: But you just agreed that you were at fault for not letting me know that you couldn't mail me my bill.

Sprint: Yes sir but you also agreed that you hadn't noticed that you hadn't received your bill in 4 months. We're even here.

ThisGuy: If we're even, then how come I have to pay fees and you don't.

Sprint: Umm..let me talk to my supervisor. <after 2-3 minutes> We can go ahead and remove those fees for you.

ThisGuy: Thank you. Can we recap what I'm paying you now...

It wasn't until after I hung up that I thought about calling him on his blatant lie about how he and his supervisor couldn't removing any fees. Oh well, it was empowering to actually present my case and win. Maybe I'll start sticking up for myself more often.

I forgot to mention this in my last post. But does anyone recognize this chin, cuz I didn't either at first.



-ThatGuy